A New Beginning
by Carpathian Rose
Summary: "Don't go into the Well House on your 15th birthday. Do NOT." "Why?" "I'll be waiting. And I will find you. I promise." Kagome had never met the silver haired stranger before. She was sure. But there he was. And he knew her. She didn't go down the Well on her 15th birthday. So there he was again. Why was he saying he didn't know her? Why was he taking her down the Well? AGAIN?


_((This is a little bit of a spin-off of the Anime. It's still basically the same thing where she fell down the well, met Inuyasha, etc. But the characters are a little bit more...mature. Inuyasha, for one. He's not the complete jerk that he is in the anime. _

_Prologue_

"_Don't do it." _

"_Why?"_

"_Because you'll start a chain of events that will be the death of us all." _

"_What?"_

"_Oh...just don't go into the Well House on your 15__th__ birthday. Do NOT." _

"_Why..." _

"_I'll be waiting. And I will find you. I promise."_

FFFFFF

Chapter One

And he would find her. A complete, silver streaked haired stranger would find her if she didn't go down the Well. Now that didn't make sense. He would find her if she didn't go down the well, as in like, what, a punishment? But he'd also said don't go into the Well House. So either he wanted her to go into the Well House, or he didn't.

Kagome sighed, forcing her eyes open to the surrounding darkness and the vibrations that were roaring up through her pillow.

She had been eight years old when the, more than likely pervert, had dropped into the empty swing beside her. Where her Mother had been in that moment, she had no idea because she certainly hadn't been around to see _He_ had said "Hello."

At eight years old, she knew not to talk to strangers but when he'd mentioned the Shrine, she was all talk. The few things that he had talked to her about before disappearing hadn't made sense. Duh, she'd been eight years old. What grown man talked to a _child _about death? Not to mention telling an eight year old child NOT to do something? That made her want to do the complete opposite.

Don't go into the Well House on her 15th birthday. Eight years later, after following Booboo outside, she had stopped outside the Well House. The darn cat had went inside.

_'Oh...just don't go into the Well House on your 15th birthday.'_

Eight years later, she was thinking just how creepy the mysterious silver haired stranger was to say that to an eight year old. But maybe just creepy enough to stop her from going into the Well House.

Nine years later, well, he was a creeper but kind of a cute creeper. What the hell was wrong with her Well House? She had played in it plenty of times when she was a kid. Sure, she'd almost fallen down the Well once, but that wasn't something she was going to indulge to her mother.

But she had better things to worry about than some silver haired kinda hot creeper. Today was the day!

Her 16th birthday!

Kagome hefted her yellow pocketed book bag over her left shoulder. There was just something about turning 16. She was practically an adult. Her mother thought otherwise, but 16 was only two years away from 18 and 18 was only three years from 21. So 16 was freaking awesome.

Except for the school part. The only reason she was trying to rush her way through school was because she wanted and planned, to go to College. She had plans for herself and she was in a hurry. She wasn't doing anyone a favor other than her Teachers by rushing through each coarse, but she was doing good for herself because she was one grade above what she was supposed to be. There was always that.

"I can do this." She so could. Not the school part; she wasn't worried about that. No, what she was worried about was _going_ to school on her birthday. A birthday party she could live with but being publicly "humiliated", so to speak, was not on her list of things to do. She already knew how things were going to go down.

The first Happy Birthday came when she walked down the stairs.

"Happy birthday, Kagome!" Her Mother was the first in line to deliver the news. She could deal with her Mother. That was easy.

The second Happy Birthday came on the way to school.

"Happy birthday, Kagome!" And Hojo, always Hojo, was always second no matter what. He always beat everyone to the punch. "I made you a present. It's organic, but I'm sure you'll like it." She could deal with his birthday wishes, too, though it was a little nerve-ending to see people turn their heads and stare at the words "happy birthday".

The third came when she met her friends in the school hallway. This she just couldn't bare.

"Happy bi—"

Kagome groaned and ducked into the girls bathroom before anyone could catch on. What about "my birthday is just another day" for the past five years, at least, didn't her friends understand?!

"I should have just stayed home." Kagome groaned out, hugging her books to her chest. Yeah, like her Mother would have allowed that. She was safe in here for all of , five, four, three, two, one—

"Kagome!" The bathroom door swung inward and her three best friends in the world squeezed through. All at once. She didn't know how they managed to do that because she had been sure the door was smaller than their three times width, but they did.

"Kagome! Hey, what are you doing in here?" Eri jumped in.

Kagome stepped back until she was leaning against one of the many sinks. Six out of eight stalls were open, but she knew there was no one but the four of them in the bathroom. "Ugh, hiding?" She suggested.

"You can't hide on your birthday." Ayumi said.

"Nope." Yuka followed.

"Yes, I can. I can stay in here all day if I want." And miss first period. And second. And third. She could eat lunch in one of the bathroom stalls. Wait, she'd have to buy lunch first. Which meant she'd have to go _into_ the cafeteria. Okay, she could skip lunch, too. She was due for a diet, anyway.

"What, no you're not. You can just come right back out and eat with us." Ayumi cut into her wayward thoughts, making her realize she'd said the dieting part out loud.

Great, now she couldn't even keep her own secrets to herself. She patted her flat stomach and then reached behind and grabbed her ass. "If anything, I need to lose some of this."

"Whatever. You are not going on a diet and you know it. I, for one, wish I had an ass like yours, Kagome!" Eri grabbed her arm and started tugging her towards the door. Kagome knew it was a losing battle and she was not on the winning side.

It was her birthday and her friends were determined to embarrass her. They might not see it like they, but her birthday was all about embarrassment. Who's wasn't?

FFFFFF

So her birthday hadn't been so bad. Kagome hefted her book bag over her shoulder, heavy with the weight of text books. It was text books or fail and she choose the text books.

She'd made it through all the "happy birthdays" with no present wounds. She could have done without the suggested birthday "whoopin's" as Yuka liked to call them. She so didn't want them to remember that. One of her dear friends wouldn't have minded numbing her butt.

The cupcakes had been nice, but she could have gone without Hojo's generic gift. The poor guy, he had the hots for her but Kagome just couldn't deal with the constant gifts, most, if not all, were totally pointless and to the point, not _edible_.

Just because something was meant to be eaten, didn't mean that it was meant to be FOOD.

Food was supposed to be good. And if it wasn't good, she didn't consider it food.

So all in all, Kagome considered her 16th birthday to be alright. Alright...

She paused on the sidewalk. Alright...

That was...

_'"Don't do it." _

"_Why?"_

"_Because you'll start a chain of events that will be the death of us all." _

"_What?"'_

Her eyes widened as she stood there, a sense of déjà vu coming over her as she stared at the swish of silver streaked hair no more than ten feet away from her.

He, or maybe a she—what guy wore their hair that long—walked at a leisurely pace in front of her, away from her, in a very expensive looking pair of jeans and a black t-shirt...no, that was definitely a dude.

The same guy from her eight year old self.

She opened her mouth and took a step.

And he paused in mid-step all those feet away, his back to her. It was a mil-second, but he paused. A pause that she took note of.

"Hey."

And he took off again, his steps a bit more brisk than before, but none the less relaxed.

"Hey!"

Kagome hefted her backpack further over her shoulder and took off after him. That was definitely him. HIM. Yea, she remembered Him just fine. What the heck was up with him coming up to an eight year old and scaring her with that "end of the world" crap?

He turned the corner and out of her sight and Kagome skipped a step and took off at a light run. The way his hands were in his jean pockets, he was definitely in a hurry now. Oh yea, he'd heard her. Why else would he "run" unless he was guilty?

Of what? Talking to an eight year old? Guilty enough!

And what the hell did he mean "end of the world?"

She was a girl. She didn't forget things.

"Hey—" She spun the corner and then stopped, staring at the almost empty street and sidewalk. White guy, black hair. Asian, black hair. Chubby girl, blond hair. White guy, silver hair...no.

"What..." Kagome whispered, bracing a hand against the brick building beside her. Annoyance filled her. That was him. She knew it. It had to be. The same guy who'd come to her for no reason and tried to scare the hell out of her when she was eight years old. But he was no where in sight.

She huffed—it was hot.

She tugged the edge of her sweater away from her chest. She was feeling a little hot. Where the hell had he gone? She asked herself that same question as she turned and—

"Stop following me."

Kagome nearly shrieked at the familiar voice, but restrained herself—barely—at the proximity. She was not a shrieker. And he—well, she cleared her throat. "I wasn't."

Not very smart, chasing after a complete stranger, she realized. What had she planned on doing once he stopped anyways? Just talk?

Not a good strategy.

"Yes, you were. You were following me and yelling 'hey'."

"Because I know you—"

"No, you don't." He looked pained. Was he sweating? "We've never met."

"Yea, we did. When I was eight—"

"No. We didn't." He stated again. "Now stop following me."

Kagome opened her mouth but he turned, obviously done. But wait! She took a step in his direction and then spun around. Now her birthday _was embarrassing._ Not in front of her friends, but to a complete stranger—

"Happy birthday, Kagome."

Kagome spun around after he spoke, after he said her _name,_ but He was gone.


End file.
